In the deep, the water was a dark velvet blue, but shot through with silver dots and streaks, which illuminated the things face. Weirdly enough, Illya could breathe.
Half of the creature was a horrible mockery of the human form. It had a woman’s chest, and its torso was stretched and elongated, with asymmetrical arms sprouting all the way down to its waist. Each arm ended with clawed hands with talons as long as daggers, two of which gripped Illya’s arms painfully and broke the skin, causing blood to float away and dissipate in the water, which wasn’t water anymore, but an endless world of the same dark blue and silver. There was no ground to stand on, or handholds to grab.
The rest of the creature’s body consisted of something like a centipede’s body. It was so repulsive that Illya screamed and tried to squirm away, only succeeding in making the thing dig its talons in deeper. She gasped in pain.
The centipede lower half was simply huge. It was coloured a dried-blood red, and millions of insect legs protruded from its sides. It thrashed around behind the creature, looking like a terrifying maelstrom of rusting red.
But the worst thing was its face.
It was heart shaped and had translucent skin and long whirling black hair, fooling you into thinking it was beautiful until you got a good look at its actual features.
The eyes were black, soulless pits, each with a crazed red flame in the middle that literally screamed for death. Its nose was like that on a human skeleton’s; it was just an empty black, roughly triangle hole. The mouth was far by the worst.
A lipless, irregular circle on its face, like flesh had been ripped out, it was lined with endless, jagged teeth stained red and brown. Its snake tongue, no, tongues, flickered in and out of its gaping mouth. One flicked Illya on the cheek and burned like acid. She yelped in pain.
Where is the Jewel?? It boomed in an echoing, inhuman voice.
“Wha-What?” Illya stammered. She felt her body trembling, the talons cutting her skin.
Don’t lie to me! I felt the Jewel and I came to claim it! roared the creature. It lies with you! Give it to me or suffer!
“But-but I…what are you?” Illya shrieked. She struggled away, succeeding in freeing one of her arms but crying out as the talon clawed out her flesh.
Stupid human! I want the Jewel!
“I don’t have a jewel! I don’t have any idea what you’re going on about!”
You dare lie to a Ptrata demon? Fine! Be gone with you, I will tear off your head and take the Jewel that way! it bellowed, one claw closing around the back of Illya’s skull, horrendous mouth curling upwards into a grin.
“No! Let me go!” Illya screamed. She shoved her free hand on to the demon’s nearing face, pushing it back.
And then beneath her hand, something blazed with light.
Why, you-! Arrgghh! The demon screamed, writhing away. Wretched girl!
Illya gasped as her hand exploded with the light. It shone a ghostly violet-purple, causing the demon the flinch violently. It screamed as it slithered into the blackness beyond and disappeared from view.
Suddenly the feeling and pressure of water rushed in, swirling around her mouth and nose and suffocating her. Illya was disorientated; the water was spinning her around. She regained her senses and swam towards what she desperately hoped was up—if the faint glimmer above was anything to tell by. Her chest felt like it was about to explode, and her head pounded, but the greenish shining of the sun was clearer. As she neared the surface, however, it was harder to move her arms and legs and she struggled that last metre, the sun’s brilliant rays slicing through the water onto her face.
I’ve got…to get…to the top, she thought weakly, and swam with more effort than she had ever in her life.
Ahhh.
Illya’s head broke the surface and she drew in great gasps of air in sobbing breaths. Her heart was beating wildly. The return of oxygen to her starving lungs briefly renewed enough of her power to swim slowly to the banks of the lake. Tugging herself onto the rocky shore, Illya collapsed on her back and closed her eyes, breathing slowly and deeply, savouring each sweet intake of air. Dimly, she registered that the edges of her vision was flickering with shadows, growing ever dark and longer.
She passed out before her eyes fully closed.
Half of the creature was a horrible mockery of the human form. It had a woman’s chest, and its torso was stretched and elongated, with asymmetrical arms sprouting all the way down to its waist. Each arm ended with clawed hands with talons as long as daggers, two of which gripped Illya’s arms painfully and broke the skin, causing blood to float away and dissipate in the water, which wasn’t water anymore, but an endless world of the same dark blue and silver. There was no ground to stand on, or handholds to grab.
The rest of the creature’s body consisted of something like a centipede’s body. It was so repulsive that Illya screamed and tried to squirm away, only succeeding in making the thing dig its talons in deeper. She gasped in pain.
The centipede lower half was simply huge. It was coloured a dried-blood red, and millions of insect legs protruded from its sides. It thrashed around behind the creature, looking like a terrifying maelstrom of rusting red.
But the worst thing was its face.
It was heart shaped and had translucent skin and long whirling black hair, fooling you into thinking it was beautiful until you got a good look at its actual features.
The eyes were black, soulless pits, each with a crazed red flame in the middle that literally screamed for death. Its nose was like that on a human skeleton’s; it was just an empty black, roughly triangle hole. The mouth was far by the worst.
A lipless, irregular circle on its face, like flesh had been ripped out, it was lined with endless, jagged teeth stained red and brown. Its snake tongue, no, tongues, flickered in and out of its gaping mouth. One flicked Illya on the cheek and burned like acid. She yelped in pain.
Where is the Jewel?? It boomed in an echoing, inhuman voice.
“Wha-What?” Illya stammered. She felt her body trembling, the talons cutting her skin.
Don’t lie to me! I felt the Jewel and I came to claim it! roared the creature. It lies with you! Give it to me or suffer!
“But-but I…what are you?” Illya shrieked. She struggled away, succeeding in freeing one of her arms but crying out as the talon clawed out her flesh.
Stupid human! I want the Jewel!
“I don’t have a jewel! I don’t have any idea what you’re going on about!”
You dare lie to a Ptrata demon? Fine! Be gone with you, I will tear off your head and take the Jewel that way! it bellowed, one claw closing around the back of Illya’s skull, horrendous mouth curling upwards into a grin.
“No! Let me go!” Illya screamed. She shoved her free hand on to the demon’s nearing face, pushing it back.
And then beneath her hand, something blazed with light.
Why, you-! Arrgghh! The demon screamed, writhing away. Wretched girl!
Illya gasped as her hand exploded with the light. It shone a ghostly violet-purple, causing the demon the flinch violently. It screamed as it slithered into the blackness beyond and disappeared from view.
Suddenly the feeling and pressure of water rushed in, swirling around her mouth and nose and suffocating her. Illya was disorientated; the water was spinning her around. She regained her senses and swam towards what she desperately hoped was up—if the faint glimmer above was anything to tell by. Her chest felt like it was about to explode, and her head pounded, but the greenish shining of the sun was clearer. As she neared the surface, however, it was harder to move her arms and legs and she struggled that last metre, the sun’s brilliant rays slicing through the water onto her face.
I’ve got…to get…to the top, she thought weakly, and swam with more effort than she had ever in her life.
Ahhh.
Illya’s head broke the surface and she drew in great gasps of air in sobbing breaths. Her heart was beating wildly. The return of oxygen to her starving lungs briefly renewed enough of her power to swim slowly to the banks of the lake. Tugging herself onto the rocky shore, Illya collapsed on her back and closed her eyes, breathing slowly and deeply, savouring each sweet intake of air. Dimly, she registered that the edges of her vision was flickering with shadows, growing ever dark and longer.
She passed out before her eyes fully closed.